Center-opening door assemblies



June 26, 1956 J. K. KRAFT CENTER-OPENING DOOR ASSEMBLIES Filed May 26, 1951 INVENTOR Joseph K. Kraft.

ATTORNEY g WITNESSES:

United States Patent Olhce Patented June 26, 1956 CENTER-OPENING DOOR ASSEMBLIES Joseph K. Kraft, Verona, N. J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., :1 corpora tion of Pennsylvania Application May 26, 1951, Serial No. 228,445

7 Claims. (Cl. -1?) This invention relates to center-opening door assemblies and it has particular relation to mechanism for hanging sliding center-opening doors on rails.

In many applications, the construction of door closures must be suitable for fast operation and for installation in limited space. For example, such door closures are provided as gates in elevator cars and as hoistway or hatchway doors at each floor or corridor served by an elevator car. For present purposes, it will be assumed that the door closure is designed for installation in an elevator system.

In many installations it has been the practice to employ bi-parting or center-opening doors. These doors most commonly are of the horizontal-slide type. Centar-opening doors further are conventionally classified as single-speed doors and two-speed doors.

In door installations of the type set forth in the preceding paragraph, it is customary to mount each of the doors by means of two door rollers which operate on a rail. In order to assure stable, noiseless and smooth operation, it is desirable that the two door rollers be spaced by an appreciable distance in the direction of the rail. Such spacing is difiicult to provide in many installations because of the limited space available and because of the narrow doors required.

In accordance with the invention, two parallel spaced rails are provided for a center-opening door assembly. If the door assembly is of the two-speed type, the two rails may be the conventional high-speed and slow-speed rails normally provided for two-speed center-opening door assemblies.

One of the center doors is provided with guide means which engages the high-speed rail at two points which are spaced in the direction of the rail. The other center door has guide means which engage not only the highspeed rail but the slow-speed rail, respectively, at points which are spaced in the direction of the rails. By this disposition of the guide means, the points of engagement of the guide means with the rails may be spaced by substantial distances without interference between the guide means;

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a door assembly wherein a door is guided by two spaced, parallel guide rails, and wherein the door has guide elements respectively engaging the rails at points spaced in the direction of the rails.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a two-speed center-opening door assembly having highspeed and slow-speed rails wherein one of the high speed doors is guided by both of the rails.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation with parts broken away of a door assembly embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a'view top plan of the door assembly illustrated in Fig. 1- but with certain door-operator parts omitted,

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation with parts broken away showing a portion of one of the doors in Fig. 1 together with the door hanger therefor, and

Fig. 4 is a View in side elevation with parts broken away showing a part of another of the doors illustrated in Fig. 1, together with the door hanger therefor.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a door assembly which may be employed on an elevator car or as a corridor door assembly. For present purposes, it will be assumed that the door assembly of Fig. l is employed as a corridor door assembly. It will be understood that a door assembly of this type will be employed for each corridor or floor served by an elevator car for the purpose of controlling the opening from such corridor into the elevator hatchway or hoistway.

In Fig. 1, a door frame l has an opening 1A which is to be closed by a door. It will be assumed that Fig. 1 shows the inner surface of the front wall of an elevator hatchway or hoistway.

The opening 1A is closed by means of a two-speed horizontal-slide center-opening door assembly which inchides four doors 3, 4, 5 and 6. These doors are illustrated in their closed positions. When the doors are to be opened, the door 3 which is termed a slow-speed door is moved to the left as viewed in Fig. 1 to the position represented by the broken lines 3A.- At the same'time the door 6 which is also termed slow-speed door is moved to the right to the position represented by the broken lines 6A.

The doors 4 and 5 are assumed to be high-speed doors. As the slow-speed door 3 opens, the door 4 simultaneously moves from the position illustrated in Fig. l to the position represented by the broken lines The speeds of the two doors are so correlated that they arrive at their fully-open positions substantially at the same time.

In an analogous manner, when the door 6 starts to open, the high-speed door 5 also starts to open and moves to the right at a rate such that it arrives substantially simultaneously with the door 6 at the open positions represented by the broken lines 6A.

The movement of the doors may be effected by means of a door operator having parts 25, 26, 27 and 37; These parts correspond to parts identified by the same refereuce characters in the McCormick Patent 1,909,063, which issued May 16, 1933, and these parts constitute a portion of a door operator which is fully described in the McCormick patent. The doors 3,-4, 5 and 6 correspond to the doors identified by the same reference characters in the aforesaid McCormick patent. The operation of the doors and the door operator may be fully understood by reference to the McCormick patent- Iii the'McCoir'nick patent each of the doors is slidably mounted on a track by means of two door hangers. These doo'rhangers are spaced apart by a distance less than the width of the associated door. For stable, smooth and noiseless operation, it is desirable that the spacing between the door hangers be large. This is particularly true for the high-speed doors which accelerate and travel rapidly. The provision of adequate spacing between the door hangers is particularly difficult in installatices employing narrow doors.

In order to provide adequate spacing between the uide elements employed'for guiding the doors, a construction is employed which differs from that illustrated in the McCormick patent. As shown in Figs. 1 and Z, a track 7 is employed which includes tWo rails 7A and 7B. The rail 7A corresponds to the rail commonly employedfor the slow=speed doors of a two-speed center-opening door assembly and will be referred to as a slow-speed rail. The rail 7B corresponds to the high-speed rail encounti'ed in conventional two-speed center-openin deer spacers 9 and 9A and screws 11.

:somewhat'different manner.

'42 and 18'are adjacent each other. gages its associated rail at a point substantially intermediate the points of engagement of the rollers 21 and 22 with their associated rail 7B. Because of the over- The rails are parallel to each other and are suitably secured to the hatchway in any suitable manner as by It will be understood that in the described embodiment, the rails extend horizontally for the purpose of guiding the various doors therealong.

The slow-speed door 3 is provided with two guide elements such door rollers 13 and 14 whichare positioned in engagement with the rail 7A. The rollers 13 and 14 may be rotatably mounted on the door 3 in any suitable manner. Conveniently they may berotatably mounted on stub shafts 13A and 14A which are secured to a plate '15. This plate has a flange 15A which is secured to the door 3 in any suitable manner as by means of screws 16.

In an analogous manner the slow-speed door 6 is provided with door rollers 18 and 19 which are rotatably mounted on stub shafts secured to a plate 20. This plate has a flange 20A which is secured to the door 6 by means of screws 16. It will be noted that the door rollers 18 and 19 engage the rail 7A at points which are spaced appreciably in the direction of the rail. The various rollers roll on their associated rail for the purpose of guiding the doors therealong.

The positions of the rollers 13 and 19 are determined in part by the dimensions of the hatchway. When the doors are in their fully-open positions, the rollers 13 and 19 cannot extend beyond the respective ends of the rail The high-speed door 5 is mounted on the high-speed rail 7B by means of guide elements in the form of door rollers 21 and 22. These rollers are rotatably mounted on stub shafts 21A and 22A which are secured to a plate 23. This plate has a flange 23A which is secured to the door 5 by meansof screws 16. v

The high-speed door 4 is mounted on the rails in a This door is associated with two guide elements in the form of rollers 41 and 42 which are rotatably mounted on stub shafts 41A and 41B. By reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the door roller v41 engages the high-speed track 7B, whereas the door roller 42 engages the slow-speed track 7A. The points of engagement are spaced appreciably in the direction of the rails.

The door rollers 41 and 42 may be securedto the highspeed door 4 in any suitable manner. In the preferred I The door rollers may be of any suitable construction and may be similar to each'other; For example, the

roller 13 may be constructed of two metal disks 13B and 13C which have a disk of smaller diameter 13D located therebetween, all disks being in alignment. 7 Although it may be constructed of a metal such as steel, preferably the disk 13D is constructed of a material which produces little noise, such as an elastomer-containing material.

It will be understood that the disk 13D rolls along the associated rail while the disks 13C and- 13B are spaced apartby a distance slightly greater. than the thickness of the associated rail to receive the rail between their edges.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be noted that when the doors are in their fully-closed position, the rollers The roller 42 enlapping construction of the door hangers for the highspeed doors, adequate spacing of the door rollers is obtained.

When the doors are in their fully-open position, the

roller 42 is adjacent the roller 14. It will be noted that the roller 42 does not interfere with the normal operation of the slow-speed doors on the slow speed track The drawing illustrates suitable proportions for the door assembly. To illustrate dimensions which may be encountered in practice, the doors 3, 4, 5 and 6 may have widths of the order of 12". For such doors, the rollers 41 and 42 may be spaced in the direction of the rails by a distance of the order of 17. A similar spacing may be employed for the rollers 21 and 22. The large spacing thus provided prevents tilting of the doors during operation and minimizes chatter and wear.

It will be understood that the invention is alsosuitable for single-speed center-opening doors. For example the doors 4 and 5 with their hanger mechanisms, may

be employed without the slow-speed doors 3 and 6. Thus let it be assumed that the doors 3 and 6, together with their associated door hangers are omitted and that the space normally closed by the doors 3 and 6 is permanently closed by means of suitable wall construction. It is clear that the doors 4 and 5 then operate as singlespeed center-opening doors.

in conventional practice, small tip-thrust rollers would be positioned on each of the plates 15, 20, 23 and 44 to engage the lower surface of the associated rail in order to prevent upward movement of the doors. However, in order to simplify the drawing, these up-thrust rollers have been omitted except for the representative roller 51 which is rotatably mounted on the plate 44 below the roller 51. The associated rail is received between the two rollers. A similar up-thrust roller may be employed for each of the door rollers.

Although the invention has been described with reference to certain specific embodiments thereof, numerous modifications falling within the spirit and scope of the invention are possible.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a door assembly, first and second spaced parallel rails, a pair of center-opening first and second doors disposed in a common plane for movement in directions parallel to said rails, a first door-hanger assembly for the first door, said door-hanger assembly including a first guide element engaging the first rail to guide the first door therealong, and said door-hanger assembly including a second guide element engaging the second rail to guide the first door therealong, said guide elements constituting the. only guide elements associated with the first door for engaging said rails, said guide elements being spaced in a direction parallel to said rails, and having an overall dimension in said direction which is substantially larger than the corresponding dimension ofthe first door.

2. A door assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the door-hanger assembly includes a supporting structure for the guide elements, said supporting structure extending between said rails.

3. In a door assembly, a supporting structure, first and second spaced parallel rails secured to the supporting structure in horizontal side-by-side positions, said supporting structure having an opening, first and second center-opening doors disposed in a common plane for closing and clearing said opening by movements in directions parallel to said rails, a first door-hanger assembly secured to the first door and engaging the first and second rails for guiding the first door along the rails, said doorhanger assembly comprising first and second rollers rotatably secured to the first door and engaging respectively the first and second rails for rolling motion therealong, said rollers being spaced in the direction of the rails by a distance at least as large as the width of the first door, and a second door-hanger assembly secured to the second door and engaging the second rail for guiding the second door along the second rail, said second doorhanger assembly including third and forth. rollers'rotatably secured to the second door and engaging the ing through the first roller being intermediate parallel vertical planes passing through the third and fourth rollers transverse to the doors when the doors are closed.

4. In a two-speed, center-opening door assembly, first and second center-opening high-speed doors disposed in a common plane, third and fourth outer low-speed doors, spaced, parallel, horizontal, side-by-side first and second rails, and door hanger means mounting the doors for movement along the rails for two-speed, center-opening operation, said door-hanger means comprising first and second guide elements mounted on the third door and engaging the first rail at points spaced along the first rail to guide the third door along the rail, third and fourth guide elements mounted on the fourth door and engaging the first rail at points spaced along the first rail to guide the fourth door along the first rail, fifth and sixth guide elements mounted on the first door and engaging the second rail at points spaced along the second rail to guide the first door along the second rail, a seventh guide element mounted on the second door and engaging the sccond rail to guide the second door along the second rail, and an eighth guide element mounted on the second door and engaging the first rail to guide the second door for movement along the first rail.

5. A door assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the seventh guide element is spaced from the fifth and sixth guide elements along the second rail in the direction of the second door, and wherein the eighth guide element enga es the first rail at a point positioned between the guide elements mounted on the third door and the guide elements mounted on the fourth door.

6. A door assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein the eighth guide element when the doors are open is positioned adjacent one of the guide elements for the third door and wherein the eighth guide element when the doors are closed is positioned adjacent one of the guide elements for the fourth door.

7. In a door assembly, first and second spaced parallel rails, a pair of center-opening first and second doors disposed in a common plane for movement in directions parallel to said rails, a first door-hanger assembly for the first door, said door-hanger assembly including a first guide element engaging the first rail to guide the first door therealong, and said door-hanger assembly including a second guide element enaging the second rail to guide the first door therealong, said guide elements being spaced in a direction parallel to said rails, and having an overall dimension in said direction which is substantially larger than the corresponding dimension or" the first door, in combination with a door-hanger assembly for slidably mounting the second door on said second rail, the last-named door-hanger assembly comprising third and fourth guide elements engaging the second rail at points spaced in a direction parallel to the rails, said first guide element engaging the first rail at a point substantially intermediate the points of engagement of the second rail by the third and fourth guide elements when the doors are closed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 994,182 Moller et a1 June 6, 1911 1,746,850 Boedtcher Feb. 11, 1930 1,909,063 McCormick May 16, 1933 2,503,848 Smith Apr. 11, 1950 2,525,143 Martin Oct. 10, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 170,226 Great Britain Get. 20, 1921 

